The expedition arranged by the Trofimuk Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia, in cooperation with the Gazprom Research Institute of Natural Gases and Gas Technologies in September 2014, conducted an integrated geological, geophysical, and geochemical study of a unique recent geologic object, the Yamal crater. The official opinion of Siberian scientists as to the nature of the phenomenon that flooded conventional and electronic mass media channels is based on the preliminary analysis of the information gathered. It is hypothesized that the crater arose owing to an avalanche methane ejection at a geologic fault intersection
